I am in Gyumri and everything seems to be going OK so far.
Tomorrow early in the morning I will be heading out to the Armenia-Georgia border, which is about 60kms from Gyumri. I will then be taking the Akhalkalaki road to the Posof border crossing with Turkey. Ardahan then will be my final destination for the day, about 270 kilometers from where I am now.
The hotel we checked in here in Gyumri is called Berlin Art Hotel. Let me tell you — this is one of the best hotels in Armenia I have ever been to, on par with Tufenkian and leaving Multi Rest fucking House in Tsakhkadzor far behind. The initial price we were offered for a 2-person room was AMD 32,000. After 2 minutes of bargaining we managed to get the price down to AMD 25,000. How neat for a hotel that makes you constantly feel like you are in Germany. They have working ethernet interface (!!!) here for access to the internet, and I have just modified the map on the website to actually display my location live. I will be the glowing big dot at the center.
There was another traveling motorcycle in the hotel’s garage — the wonderful BMW R1200GS Adventure, fully equipped and packed, with an Italian license plate. Unfortunately my tomorrow’s schedule means I won’t be able to meet the riders, but my motorcycle looked like a baby next to the tall 1200cc enduro.
Oh, the new engine oil recommended by Dave works wonders. The engine sounds amazing. Thanks dude!
Crossing two borders in one day in a vehicle is generally considered stressful. Guess we’ll see. I am a little nervous about that.
Rubik, Mineh and Lucy are extraordinarily amazing coming to see me off all the way to the border crossing. No wonder our evening time in Gyumri is so cozy.
